8.2. Configuring User Authentication for the Broker
User authentication on OpenShift Enterprise with the standard remote user authentication plug-in uses Apache HTTP Server authentication methods. When a user is successfully authenticated for the first time, the broker host creates a user record in MongoDB. Therefore, a user can be added by creating the user in your preferred authentication repository.
OpenShift Enterprise supports any form of Apache authentication capable of setting the
REMOTE_USER Apache environment variable securely. The following sections provide details on configuring user authentication on the broker for a number of popular authentication methods.
Important
The authentication configuration must be the same for both the broker application and the Management Console. For example, if the broker application is configured to use LDAP, the same configuration must be updated for the Management Console. See Section 8.9.1, “Installing the Management Console” for more information on installing and updating the authentication configuration for the Management Console.
8.2.1. Authenticating Using htpasswd
The basic installation of OpenShift Enterprise uses a flat
/etc/openshift/htpasswd file that contains hashes of user passwords. Although this simple and standard method allows access with the httpd service, it is not very manageable, nor is it scalable. It is only intended for testing and demonstration purposes.
The list of OpenShift Enterprise users is stored with each user on a separate line in the
/etc/openshift/htpasswd file on the broker host. You must have administrative access to the broker host to create and update this file. If multiple broker hosts are used for redundancy, a copy of the /etc/openshift/htpasswd file must exist on each broker host.
User password hashes can be created with the
htpasswd tool, which is available for most operating systems from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/programs/htpasswd.html. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the htpasswd tool is part of the httpd-tools RPM.
Run
htpasswd from wherever it is available to create a hash for a user password:
Example 8.3. Creating a Password Hash
# htpasswd -n bob
New password: ######
Re-type new password: ######
user:$apr1$IOzWzW6K$81cqXmwmZKqp6nWJPB6q31
The output can then be sent to an OpenShift Enterprise administrator, who can update the
/etc/openshift/htpasswd file to provide access to users with their chosen password. Because the user password is a hash of the password, the user's password is not visible to the administrator.
